Shorts
by thecrystalkey
Summary: A series of five shorts from those inbetween times in Day 5 hours 1 and 2. JackChloe frienship. Because I'm at work this weekend but only have anything to do once an hour...
1. Chapter 1

Title: **Short #1  
**Author: thecrystalkey  
Summary: First in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.  
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

* * *

Jack Bauer flew a stolen helicopter towards LA and found that, despite the crises developing all around, his thoughts were focusing mostly on one person. Chloe O'Brian, the only person that he trusted completely.He trusted other people; his best friend Tony Almeida, for one, but Tony could only be trusted as long as his wife Michelle was accounted for. There were no caveats to Jack's trust in Chloe. 

She knew everything he'd done, right up to letting Paul Raines die to save the life of a man who'd been helping terrorists. She'd been a little tactless about it but, instead of saying any of the useless things the others had said, things he already knew in any case, she'd offered to listen. It had been the only thing anyone had said about it that had actually made him feel better.

She understood, but more than that; she accepted. She had no discernable social skills and knew it, preferring to keep her eyes on her computer screen and her mind on her work. She ran her department with a ruthless efficiency that left none of her people any time for socializing either. It was part of what Jack admired about her, though he knew it made her unpopular with her staff. That, and the sarcasm she put up like a wall around herself when she had to talk to anyone face-to-face.

Chloe used sarcasm the way Jack used silence and a blank expression. To cover the doubts and the pain and the regrets for what had to be done. To block the emotions that would only get in the way until the job was done and there was the luxury of time and space to react.

She'd gotten arrested for him, lost her job, and later had helped him fake his own death. She'd done most of the work covering it up; scrambling phone recordings, hacking into the coroner's office, setting him up with a new identity. She'd set up protocols for staying in touch and used them to pass him information on average of once a month. Most of it was about Kim and he hadn't even had to ask. She had just _known_. She had been his only link to his daughter, and quite possibly his sanity, for the last eighteen months.

Now, because of that, she was in trouble. Three of his friends were down, dead or dying, and Chloe was running for her life. His eyes scanned the ground compulsively as they came up to the oil refinery. Nothing. _Be all right, Chloe_, he thought. _Please._

He landed the chopper and got out, eyes still scanning the ground, gun out; looking for assassins and Chloe. She wouldn't have betrayed him, but she might have been followed. She might even be dead. He checked his watch, then he heard something.His relief when she came barreling around the corner was immeasurable.

"Chloe," he heard himself call out.

"Jack." She sounded breathless and afraid and she didn't stop running.

"Are you okay?" he asked as she got closer.

She barely even slowed down until she threw her arms around him in a hug.

He was a little bit startled since she'd always kept a professional distance between them, and wasn't the kind of person much given to public displays of affection, even hugs. Being startled, however, didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around her and hugging her back as tightly as he could.

"I'm fine," she said into his shirt. Actually, she sounded close to tears but she didn't give him time to contradict her. "What's happening? Why would anyone wanna kill the people who know you're alive?"

Straight to business, same old Chloe. He pulled back, keeping his hands on her arms. She looked terrified and upset, and would have resented his bringing up either one. Focusing on the situation, getting to work on finding solutions, was the best thing for both of them to concentrate on right now.

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out. Right now we need to get access to CTU's archives from a secure location. Can you help me do that?"

"I can't do it from my laptop." Mind racing through the possibilities, she was already sounding calmer. "There's a research loft at CalTech. I can get us in." She looked over at the helicopter. "Who's that?"

Jack looked over to see Derek climbing out of the helicopter. He took a hold of her arm and began moving them both towards the kid. Now was not the time for complicated explanations. "I'll explain once we're in the car."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: **Short #2  
**Author: thecrystalkey  
Summary:Second in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.  
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

* * *

Chloe O'Brian moved as quietly as she knew how through the oil drilling equipment, repeatedly checking behind her to see that Derek was still there and that no assassins had come out of the smoke behind them. 

_Jack will be all right_, she assured herself. Jack Bauer was always the last man standing. It was practically an article of faith among those who'd worked with him at CTU. Just like the best way to live through any situation was to be right behind Jack or following his orders. Most of the time. But the men who'd come after her were good. They'd been genuinely trying to kill her, that much she was certain of. Well, maybe capture, but given what had happened to President Palmer, Tony, and Michelle, kill was much more likely.

They must have tracked her somehow, she was sure she hadn't been followed. They'd been trying to kill her, if they'd had her in view, they would have kept trying. God! This was why she hated being in the field. And she was responsible for someone else now, though she still wasn't completely clear on why Jack had brought a kid with him. A pushy kid, who wouldn't shut up.

"Who are you? Who are these guys? What's going on?"

"Sh!"

"I'm in the middle of this, don't I at least deserve to know who I'm hiding from and why?"

"I don't know who they are!" she snapped. "But I'm pretty sure they've already killed at least two people so far this morning and now they're after me. If they find us, they'll kill both of us. Do you understand?"

She waited until he nodded.

"Jack has a plan." That, too, was an article of faith. Jack Bauer always had a plan. "So we need to hide. That means follow me, stay down and be quiet."

The kid nodded again, eyes wide as saucers, looking terrified. She probably shouldn't have scared him like that, but she'd had to say something and the truth was her default mode. It had shut him up anyway. She'd apologize later.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: **Short #3  
**Author: thecrystalkey  
Summary: Third in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.  
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

* * *

Four gunshot wounds, three of them (Chloe's) in his stomach and lower chest, meant the guy was as good as dead without medical attention. Actually, the assassin would be dead right now if there hadn't been a chance of getting information from him. They hadn't wanted Jack at all, except that he was in their way. Jack was right there in front of them and the guy giving the orders had still gone straight after Chloe. He needed to know why. And who was behind it. 

He ordered her to walk away and take Derek. He knew he sounded harsh. She ducked her chin in that way she had when someone raised their voice to her. They both knew what he was probably going to have to do and neither of them liked it. But she fumbled for Derek's hand and drew him away, out of earshot.

She hadn't heard him promise the man medical attention if he talked, didn't know that this was the man who'd pulled the trigger on David Palmer. And it was the first time she'd seen him shoot a man in cold blood. But when it was done, Chloe had moved forward, leaving Derek staring, horrified, at the body. She'd stood beside Jack and studied the dead man with an unreadable expression.

"He was trying to kill me."

"Yes."

"He put the bomb in Tony and Michelle's car."

"Yes."

"He killed David Palmer."

"Yes."

Her sigh brought his eyes to hers. He'd braced himself to see that look in her eyes, the one Derek had right now, but it wasn't there. Her eyes were steady on his and there was worry there. Her eyes reflected concern and compassion, but no judgement.

"It probably means I really am I some kind of psychopath but…I'm glad he's dead," she stated. "What do we do now?"

He couldn't quite believe what he'd just heard. _I'm glad he's dead_. _What do we do now_? Jesus. A single, blunt statement of support and straight back to work. But Jack felt better. She was a gift, and didn't even know it. She had no tact, no social grace, no clue how to use platitudes. Thank God.

"You are not a psychopath, Chloe. And we need to move."

"Are we still going to CalTech?"

"The situation's changed. Do you have your laptop with you?"

"Yeah." Her expression said 'of course' loud and clear.

"Can you get in to CTU from it? Not the archives, active protocols."

"It depends what protocols, but, yeah, I should be able to. What's going on, Jack? What did he tell you?"

"I need to know if you can or you can't. Can you check that without a live connection?"

She paused, wanting an answer to her question. If it were anyone else, she would have asked again. Insisted on an answer before doing anything else. But it was Jack and she trusted him completely. If there was anything Chloe O'Brian was sure of in life, it was that helping Jack was always the right thing to do.

She nodded. "It won't take long, but I need a flat place to work."

He handed her the keys he'd taken from the assassin. "One of these will be for their van. Go get it and drive it over here. I'm gonna do a final sweep. And be careful."

"You, too. What about him?" Her eyes slid over to Derek.

"Don't worry about him, he's my responsibility. I won't be gone long."

With one last look at the boy still staring in shock and horror at what had to be his first dead body, Chloe shook her head and headed for the vehicle.

--

When Jack got back from his sweep, he knew he'd have to explain what he'd learned to Chloe. If there was one thing the computer analyst couldn't stand it was being in an information vacuum. He wasn't wrong. As soon as he'd turned up again, she'd jogged over to him.

"What is going on here, Jack?"

"They're setting me up to take the fall for Palmer's assassination."

"Palmer's not even President anymore, why would they want him dead?"

"I don't know." Jack ran through the scenarios once again in his mind. The President had known something, maybe. Or it could just have been a stunt, a diversion. Stranger things had happened.

"You need to get as far away from here as you can. Just disappear." She sounded afraid again but Jack knew that this time the fear was for him. She hadn't bothered, Jack noted, to finish with an 'I'll do the rest' but it was implied. She was incapable of lying convincingly, they both knew that, but she would stall to give him time to get away. Plant false trails in the computers to lead anyone searching for him in circles. If and when she was caught, she'd refuse to tell them what she knew and she'd refuse to help them find him. She would likely lose her job and might end up in jail. She'd risked both for him before. Jack was glad to have her on his side and was not about to run away and leave her to face the consequences.

"No, what I need to do is find who really killed President Palmer."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Start at the beginning. Investigate the original crime scene. David Palmer was visiting his brother when he was shot, maybe there's something there that can help."

"That's crazy. Palmer was assassinated an hour ago. That place is going to be swarming with secret service, FBI, local police…"

"I need access to a building schematic and an agency deployment grid. Can you get that for me or not?"

"Yeah. I should be able to log on remotely from the site."

"Ok. Come on. Let's go." Without discussion, they both knew she'd be driving. If he was being set-up for Palmer's murder there were good odds that they'd not only planted evidence against him, but that it had already been found. Which meant Jack's face would be recognizable.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: **Short #4  
**Author: thecrystalkey  
Summary:Fourth in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.  
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

* * *

Working with Jack was nerve-racking, Chloe reflected as the guy at the barricade, FBI or secret service, checked her ID and eyed the inside of the van. It was just as well that it was full of what looked like official equipment for Jack and the kid to hide behind. Jack hadn't introduced them but he was being, mostly, nice to the kid; so they'd probably known each other already. Or Jack knew his mom, at least; since she was calling his cell phone. Jack always did have a soft spot for kids. 

Finally they were in the parking garage, and the only agents in there had disappeared into the stairwell. She breathed out a sigh of relief and twisted to face behind her.

"We're clear."

She pulled her laptop out as Jack brought himself and Derek out of hiding, hacked into the wireless network being used by the agencies present to coordinate their efforts, logged onto the CTU system remotely and pulled up the interagency deployment grid.

"Can you get a wireless access point from down here?"

"Yeah, I'm reading the agents transponders. I can track their locations to within three feet." She started pulling up the information she knew he'd want. And some she thought she should share anyway because it supported her 'this is crazy' theory. "Jack, there are a 167 agents in and around the location. 25 of them in Wayne Palmer's apartment alone."

"I know." He sounded completely calm. "That's why we better hope this is going to be the last place they're going to be looking for me."

_Hope? Try pray,_ Chloe thought as she watched Jack test the comm. equipment._ This is never going to work. I'm going to jail for accessory to murder. Probably aiding and abetting a fugitive. We're both going to jail. _

But because it was Jack (well, that and it was their only plan), she knew she'd go ahead with it. Also, he'd go ahead without her and then he'd definitely get caught. Now was not the time for that to happen. He would have handed himself in already if he'd thought it would make a difference.

_At least they probably won't hand him over to the Chinese. Dead President trumps dead Consul._ Though you would think, with the number of people Jack had actually killed, that they could find something to arrest him for that he'd actually done.

"Ok," he held out what looked like an earplug with a pin in it to her. "This is a field ops communication unit. All you need to do is put it in your ear and we're set to go."

She put it in her ear and looked at Jack, her lips pressed tightly together. He looked cool and confident and, even though he always looked that way, it reassured her. Then he saw something out the window and had Derek shut off the flashlight. She saw the agent opening his car trunk and knew what Jack was going to do as he opened the door and slid out.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: **Short #5  
**Author: thecrystalkey  
Summary: Fifth in a series of shorts covering some of the time not shown in episode 1 of Day 5. Jack/Chloe friendship.  
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here. Also, none of the dialogue you actually recognize is mine. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

* * *

Jack looked back a couple of times at the two people watching him from the van. Neither of them should be here. Derek should be safe at home, doing whatever it was fifteen year old boys did during summer vacation; and Chloe should be safely back at CTU. Jack far preferred it when the people he cared about were safely away from the action. He fed the agent some excuse about needing to get in to his apartment. When the man turned his back, Jack struck; getting him in a head lock that would choke off his air. Stopping him from crying out and rendering him unconscious without doing him permanent damage. 

As he took the FBI agent to the ground and waited for him to stop struggling, Jack smiled at Chloe's comment (obviously meant for Derek), "Relax. He's good at this." It was a relief, after eighteen months on his own, to have someone he knew and trusted actively watching his back. It was good to be home.

--

Glad that she no longer had to time to think about anything but the mission, Chloe watched her computer screen and did her best to ignore the young man hovering at her shoulder. She held her breath through the confrontation with the President's brother, inwardly cursing at the agents on scene for not following protocol. It was against the rules to have a civilian still wandering around the crime scene. Chloe felt herself shaking her head when he gave Wayne Palmer his gun and waited to hear a shot. Then released her breath slowly when Jack's next words implied he'd gotten Palmer's cooperation. Only Jack.

When they actually found something, she'd started the searches before Jack asked her if she'd gotten it. They had a name and a place, both thankfully away from here. If Jack could get out without being seen, they might yet pull this off. Then her computer beeped as agents suddenly began streaming into the building. She warned Jack and began working on alternate routes out of there. The front door was fine when nobody had expected it but it was clear they now knew he was there.

Her heart about stopped when all the green dots suddenly disappeared. Someone at CTU must have spotted her activity on the network. She was a little bit proud of her people, but mostly irritated; they couldn't have been blind for another couple of minutes? She warned Jack and then waited tensely; either for him to appear at the stairwell, or tell her he'd been caught. At least her search on Chevensky and Ontario airport had finished first.

The side door of the van slid open unexpectedly and she jumped, twisting in her seat to see Jack in the open door. She breathed out in relief.

"What did you get for me on Chevensky?" Jack asked as he stripped out of his FBI camouflage.

"He's not a passenger. He's the baggage supervisor at the airport."

They both heard the secret service agent's warning.

"Dammit," Jack swore. "They've found us."

His eyes went back to hers. She knew what had to happen now. Jack had to stay on the trail. The kid was safer with him. Chloe herself was no longer a target with the assassins all dead. "You need a distraction."

"Yeah," he said softly. "Derek and I will get out one of the fire exits on foot. They won't expect that, especially not if the van is driving out the front at the same time. You up for this?"

"I'll keep them busy as long as I can. How long do you think you'll need?"

"Not long. Get as far as you can through the barricades. They'll want me alive and they probably think you're a hostage, so they're unlikely to shoot. We have to go." He held her eyes for another second, reached out and touched her arm. "Be careful."

She smiled a little. "You, too. You're the one going after the people who shot a President."

Then he and Derek were gone and the van door was closed. She got the motor running and floored the gas, aiming to make it look as much like a desperate escape attempt as possible. She was definitely going to get arrested today.


End file.
